Exam question 1 · Teeth: enamel, sugar, holes, brushing and the dentist

Identify the principal origin of the acid responsible for the decay of dental enamel.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you, dental enamel · What happens: identify, decay · To what, where: principal origin

This is exam question 1 of lesson 352 «Teeth: enamel, sugar, holes, brushing and the dentist» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Identify	identify	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	4 origin	det
3	principal	principal	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 origin	amod
4	origin	origin	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Identify	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	7 acid	case
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	7 acid	det
7	acid	acid	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 origin	nmod
8	responsible	responsible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 acid	amod
9	for	for	ADP	_	11 decay	case
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 decay	det
11	decay	decay	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 responsible	obl
12	of	of	ADP	_	14 enamel	case
13	dental	dental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	14 enamel	amod
14	enamel	enamel	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 decay	nmod
15	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Identify	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	identify	imperative	you not said here	the principal origin of the acid					vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent origin=Theme
2	decay		dental enamel						nom decay «process intransitive»: of=agent

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Cold air inhaled through the mouth

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Cold	cold	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 air	amod
2	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	inhaled	inhale	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 air	acl
4	through	through	ADP	_	6 mouth	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 mouth	det
6	mouth	mouth	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 inhaled	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	inhale	participle		Cold air not said here		the mouth			vn exhale-40.1.3-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent

Option 2

Saliva, which is acidic in all circumstances

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Saliva	saliva	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	5 acidic	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	5 acidic	nsubj
4	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	5 acidic	cop
5	acidic	acidic	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Saliva	acl:relcl
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 circumstances	case
7	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	8 circumstances	det
8	circumstances	circumstance	NOUN	Number=Plur	5 acidic	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Saliva			all circumstances		acidic property	tree rules

Option 3

Sugar, which dissolves spontaneously into acid

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Sugar	sugar	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 dissolves	nsubj
2	,	,	PUNCT	_	4 dissolves	punct
3	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	4 dissolves	nsubj
4	dissolves	dissolve	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	spontaneously	spontaneously	ADV	_	4 dissolves	advmod
6	into	into	ADP	_	7 acid	case
7	acid	acid	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 dissolves	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dissolve	present	Sugar					into acid result; spontaneously property	vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into acid=Result

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Bacteria within dental plaque, which metabolise sugar

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Bacteria	bacterium	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 metabolise	nsubj
2	within	within	ADP	_	4 plaque	case
3	dental	dental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 plaque	amod
4	plaque	plaque	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Bacteria	nmod
5	,	,	PUNCT	_	7 metabolise	punct
6	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	7 metabolise	nsubj
7	metabolise	metabolise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
8	sugar	sugar	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 metabolise	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	metabolise	present	Bacteria within dental plaque	sugar					tree rules

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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